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TOEFL Blogs

Hi! I am a Miami Beach-based English Teacher and have recently joined WyzAnt to see if there are EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students who need a bit of help with their English; conversation, TOEFL, grammar, accent reduction....
I enjoy teaching as I like to meet people from around the world and help them reach their goals, and my absolute favorite topic is grammar, especially verb tenses :)
My background is in journalism and social media, but I have been teaching for a while now, working at a language school during the daytime hours and teaching through an online school as well.
I will be blogging about learning English, and I hope to hear from you! I am available to teach over Skype, in person at a cafe in Miami Beach, or possibly come to you depending on the distance (I live on South Beach).
Have a great weekend!

Radio shows are a great way to practice listening to spoken English. Many radio shows post their episodes online and also include the text of the show. This way you can both listen to the show and also read the show. Reading the text allows you to check
your understanding of what you heard. In addition to practicing listening skills, this is also a great way to learn new vocabulary. Below are links to some of my favorite radio shows available online.
Voice of America
News stories. Easy to intermediate vocabulary.
http://www.voanews.com/
For Voice of America, look for news stories with videos. Below the video, you'll find the text of all the spoken parts. For example, see the video of this
story about the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act in the United States.
NPR TED Talks
Talks by experts in technology, education, and design fields. Advanced vocabulary...
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1. Make sure your students know the differences between a summary and a paraphrase. Students can fill in the blanks without really comprehending or being able to paraphrase. If your book is mainly focused on writing and listening exercises, it’s up to
you to bring it to life and relatable. Tie in all aspects of reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Don’t isolate each component too much. Peer work is great, unless one students takes the burden of all the work.
2. Walk into class knowing your agenda. Write it on the board, so students have a roadmap of what the day holds for them.
3. Get everyone to participate; even the shy ones. If the desks don’t fit the needs of the collaborative environment, rearrange them.
4. The lower level classes need to be corrected for pronunciation if it is really off. Don’t let it get fossilized.
5. If students are inattentive, pretend to fall asleep, or go outside and say you are going to get the director.
6...
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Step #1: Feed Your Brain
Your brain likes new words that are connected to experience. So use as many of your five senses while you learn a new word. Are you learning action words? Get up and do them! Are you learning the names of household items? Collect them from your house
and act out your sentences with them. Every time you add experience to your new word, you strengthen it in your memory.
Step #2: Tell A Story
A story is a good way to help you discover and remember new words. Learn a short proverb common to Americans, or draw your own story with stick figures. As you practice telling the story those new words will stick better and better in your brain.
Step #3: Review Before You Go To Bed
While you sleep your brain decides what information to store and what to forget. So spend some time before you sleep reviewing your new words. Don't worry about mastering them, just 10 or 15 minutes should do it. Then the memory of your new words will...
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I have been tutoring ESL students for two years. Last year, I became familiar with the TOEFL exam. Some of my students were asking for my help to prepare for this exam. The TOEFL exam is primarily used for international students who want to attend a university
in the U.S., but other ESL students with higher levels of English comprehension can benefit as well. The English level on the test is advanced, so a beginning to intermediate level ESL student would have difficulty understanding many of the concepts. The TOEFL
assesses students on their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Most of my students did well on the reading and writing portions. However, the listening and speaking portions were the biggest challenges for all of my students. Those portions are
the most difficult because the conversations and lectures are done by native speakers with a normal pace of speech. Because they are translating from their first language to English, many ESL students...
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Hello!
Thank you for visiting my site!
I have 8 years of language teaching experience. I taught for 7 years at Princeton University and 1 year at the University of Notre Dame. It is truly a joy for me to help people reach their academic and personal goals. Please contact me as soon as possible
to inquire about scheduling a tutoring session with me. I specialize in language arts, particularly Spanish, French, and English. I also have experience tutoring people of all ages, and helping them prepare for standardized tests.
I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Best regards,
Valerie

Close your eyes. Now let yourself dream, but do that whole conscious dreaming thing that the psychedelics talked about where you put yourself into an Inception like world that you have created for your own nocturnal pleasure. Put yourself into the job
that you love to do, that you have decided you may be meant to do for the rest of your life. Feels good, right? Wait. Now practice speaking to the people around you. As much as you explain to these people, they still look at you like you are from another planet,
and even though this is the dream that you have chosen for yourself, you can’t make them understand everything you are saying. If you had to guess you would say that maybe they gathered half of the words coming out of your mouth, something in this world not
so dream-like. Now open your eyes. Do you see what you have been dreaming of? No, of course not. But I do.
I stand in front of them, their frozen expressions immediately melted as I exude the warmth and excitement...
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One way you can be very well prepared to tackle your exam is by taking practice tests. You probably already knew this. However, here is something you might not have known. The best way to do the practice tests is to replicate real testing conditions as much
as possible. In other words, wherever you take a practice test, try to make that space feel like the testing environment. This is very much the same philosophy as the "train as you fight" theory used by the military. it does them no good to practice their
combat techniques in ideal conditions because they will not have those ideal conditions when they have to implement the techniques. In the same way, taking long breaks and doing only one section per day will not prepare you for the real testing environment.
Here are some tips to help you create your own test-taking environment at home:
*Get your parents to assist by planning with them when you need your home to be quiet. Make sure siblings are all in agreement...
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Hi Everyone!
I am excited to to say that I met my first student. He was awesome! One thing I will do to help improve the lessons is to use the ideas in "Comprehension Going Forward: Where We Are and What's Next" which has one of my favorite authors in it. I hope that
her ideas improve my ability to be effect.
Also, I want to say that my student's family is so nice. I was honored to be accepted into their presence.

Attention students whose first language was other than English or students with parents speaking another language at home. I will enable you to become fluent with confidence in the English language! You will learn the pragmatics of the English language in
a clear step by step program! Improve reading and writing skills to gain confidence in work, school or personal relationships! I have years of experience!

The above-referenced subjects include different-aged PreK-College student needs I have experienced at the beginning of each school year since Fall 2010, when I first began tutoring in earnest via WyzAnt, instead of substituting daily for lesser pay in 18
area elementaries in our school district. I am not including higher math (Grade 7 and above) in my math tutoring experience. I also have helped adults with ESL/ESOL, general and academic reading/writing/comprehension/test preparation as well as public speaking
for different-sized audiences, sometimes at-the-last-minute before "the big presentation day".

I struck up a conversation with a home-schooling mom the other day. Parent of a middle-school student, she told me I should talk to middle school parents about this topic because, as she put it, “We don’t know what we don’t know.”
In my blog post
“Test Prep Students 1: Before Our First Session, Please,” I mentioned planning ahead to give yourself more time to prepare. Since then, I’ve come to believe that you can’t have too much time to prepare, regardless of what you are testing for
* High school graduation (Minnesota GRAD)
* College National Merit Scholarships (PSAT/NMSQ)
* Advance college credit (AP, CLEP)
* College admission (ACT, SAT, TOEFL, IELTS)
* Professional licensure (such as the Minnesota Teacher Licensing Exam—MTLE)
* Graduate school admission (GRE, GMAT, and again TOEFL or IELTS).
Students as young as 12 or 13 can successfully answer many of the ACT Questions of the Day (QOTD) http://www.act.org/qotd/ and SAT QOTD http://sat.collegeboard...
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Welcome! I am passionate about teaching all areas of English and the reading and English sections on the ACT exam. I can also give you tips on how to master all parts of the exam. I have tons of resources and I will individualize lessons to your needs and
timeline. I tutor 9th grade through college level. I am a certified English teacher with eight years of experience. Contact me today for a free consultation. References are available upon request. I care and I will do everything that I can to help you succeed.
Don't waste another day struggling! Learn how to write an essay without the stress. I also do editing/ proofreading. Learn how to master vocabulary. Bump that ACT score up. EVERY POINT MEANS MORE MONEY FOR COLLEGE! Talk to you soon.
Peace, Kimberly

Why did I choose to teach via WyzAnt?
It seems that people trust screening agencies today! We want someone to do the background research for us! From the web search, I found this placement company. It's easier that way to market my services, so it seems! Be my first student or group or students!
My local and international references are excellent!
I love to teach!
My students become my friends!
Sincerely,
Bonny

Welcome to ESOL instruction for international adults. Teaching and learning with international adults has been one of life's most enriching experiences. We live in a world which needs us to reach out to one another in friendship and mutual respect. I hope
to hear from you!

Test are just that...tests. Just because you don't perform well on a test doesn't mean you don't read or write well, it indicates that you don't test well. It's important to know if you actually don't understand the material or if you just need to learn
to be a better test-taker. One of the most important things for standardized testing is to read the question first, THEN read the section where you will find the answer. Good luck, test takers!

This afternoon, I found myself writing to one of my ESL students:
______________________
Hello, XXXXXX---
I am imagining you and your dog having a fine time at the cabin as I write this.
I bet you are in the cabin as well. In the first sentence at the cabin is correct, just as you would say "I am at home" rather than
in home. It would also be correct to say "I'm in the house" rather than outside in the yard.
When you are at home, the yard is included. When you are in the house, the yard is excluded. With
cabin, the same word is used both ways. When you are at the cabin, the exterior property is included, but when you are
in the cabin, it is excluded.
By the way, while you might be in your yard, you would be on your property.
______________________
Preposition problems are common to all but the most advanced English language learners, including many native speakers. After sending my student this email, I realized the word
office...
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The ELAs are coming. Is your child ready?
Well, if your child was not practicing reading, vocabulary and math for a few hours per week, there is a great chance that you need a tutor to explain the subject curriculum one more time. As the time goes by, the memory fades away.
My students play games that help to train their memory, speed and attention. Education is a year long (including summer time) process that is built up by understanding simple things that will help your child to gain a better knowledge and understanding of
next grade math, language, and other subjects.
Please do not procrastinate!
Alexei M.

I think www.wyzant.com is doing a great job bringing together students and tutors. Even though some tutors charge up to $70/hour and higher, it is hard to see my qualifications until you try. Therefore, I charge $25/hour so that the potential students would
try me out and see how good I am on the background of professors and teachers. I am trying to bring affordable tutorials to my students for them to know that good tutors are not the most expensive ones.

“Take time to think, for this is the source of power.
Take time to work that you may know the joy of success.
Take time to leave the world a better place,
for only then will you truly appreciate the journey of life.”
Life in the 21st century does not always lend itself to taking time. Since leaving Abington Friends School, I have been taking time to write. In recent days, I have been working on an opus entitled Dear Thomas. Over a two-year period, I penned my son Thomas
155 letters chronicling family history, my life, thoughts and feelings of the day, and hopes and dreams for the future. I am now in the finishing stages as I edit and re-edit this illustrated volume of about 600 pages.
"Know you what it is to be a child? It is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness,
and nothing...
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